System for supplying at least two components of a gas producing system

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a system for supplying at least two components of a gas producing system of a fuel cell installation, especially the stages of a multi-stage reformation process, with an evaporated and/or superheated hydrocarbon or a hydrocarbon/water mixture. The inventive system comprises at least two heat exchangers that have one zone for the media and one zone for the supply of thermal energy each. The heat exchangers are associated with one of the components each, the zone used for the supply of thermal energy to the at least two heat exchangers being connected in tandem. Alternatively, the inventive system comprises a heat exchanger and downstream of the media zone thereof a valve device which supplies the evaporated and/or superheated volume flow to at least one respective section of pipes that leads to one of the at least two components, respectively.

[0001] The invention concerns a system to supply superheated hydrocarbon or a hydrocarbon/water mixture to at least two components of a gas generation system of a fuel cell system, in particular to the stages of a multi-stage reforming process.

[0002] In accordance with the present state of technology, gas generation systems for producing hydrogen-containing gases—for example for fuel cell systems, in particular for mobile application in a motor vehicle—comprise several components. In addition to components that are usually connected in series, such as for example a reformer of a purification stage or similar element, there may be at least two components of the gas generation system that—depending on the operating state of the fuel cell system—may have to be supplied with evaporated and/or superheated hydrocarbon or a hydrocarbon/water mixture in parallel, in addition to their series connection. For this purpose one usually employs two systems to evaporate or superheat the hydrocarbon or the hydrocarbon/water mixture.

[0003] For example, DE 196 39 150 C2 describes a system that is in principle suitable for this purpose, and which provides the thermal energy for the evaporation and/or superheating by means of a central heating device. A fuel and an oxygen-containing gas are catalytically oxidized in a central burner. The thermal energy generated in the central burner is supplied to the system components of the gas generation system by means of a heat transfer medium. The distribution of the thermal energy to the individual components by means of a heat transfer medium requires suitable pipe elements, which connect the heat-transfer medium side of the central burner with the other components. But these areas can be subject to significant heat losses, which lower the overall efficiency of the system.

[0004] One disadvantage of such a system, which uses a heat transfer medium to distribute the generated thermal energy, is that is does not possess the dynamic response characteristics, which are required in particular for the mobile application in a motor vehicle, and which are demanded by the operators of such systems.

[0005] A further disadvantage is that all of the heat transfer medium and all of the components that are to be supplied have to be heated to an appropriate operating temperature by the central burner before the entire system is able to provide trouble-free gas generation operation proportionate to the load requirements put on a fuel cell of the fuel cell system.

[0006] It is the objective of the invention to provide a system to supply at least two components of a gas generation system, and to make it possible to achieve high flexibility with respect to the supply quantities, in particular in dependence on the operating temperature of the overall system and to achieve high overall efficiency of the overall system.

[0007] The invention provides a solution to this problem with the system described by the features of claim 1.

[0008] In accordance with the invention, the system uses at least two heat exchangers, the respective media-side areas of which are associated with at least one of the components. To introduce energy into the respective heat exchanger's areas serving for this purpose, the two heat exchangers are connected in series. This makes it possible in an especially practical manner to supply in a separate, possibly completely independent manner an evaporated and/or superheated hydrocarbon or a corresponding hydrocarbon/water mixture to two components, in particular the stages of a multi-stage reforming process. This high flexibility may be achieved by using two separate metering systems for the respective heat exchangers. Connecting the areas, into which the thermal energy is to be introduced, one after the other, in the manner of a series connection, makes it possible to implement the supply of thermal energy to the two heat exchangers in a very efficient manner and completely eliminates the need for heat transfer media to distribute the generated thermal energy to the heat exchangers.

[0009] In an especially favorable configuration of the invention, thermal energy is introduced into the first—with respect to the direction of the series connection—heat exchanger by means of a catalytic combustion of fuel cell exhaust gases and/or added fuel. The exhaust gases of the catalytic combustion, which takes place in the first—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger reach the second—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger through its thermal-energy input area.

[0010] Thus, in accordance with the invention, the first heat exchanger serves to directly convert the introduced substances by means of a catalytic combustion, whereby the resulting thermal energy becomes available directly in the first heat exchanger. The resulting, generally hot exhaust gases of this combustion pass through the thermal-energy input area of the second heat exchanger. The fact that the first heat exchanger simultaneously serves as a catalytic burner, whereby the exhaust gases of this combustion pass through the second heat exchanger, results in a highly efficient system with very low space requirements.

[0011] In a further, alternative configuration of the invention, a pre-heating burner is arranged upstream—with respect to the series connection—of the thermal-energy input area of the first heat exchanger.

[0012] The exhaust gases of this pre-heating burner pass through the thermal-energy input areas of the at least two heat exchangers. In contrast to the above-described embodiment example, which uses a catalytic combustion in the first heat exchanger, combustion in a pre-heating burner allows a comparatively simple design of the heat exchanger, since the thermal-energy input area of the heat exchanger is exclusively passed by exhaust gases.

[0013] For this reason the heat exchanger does not require protection against possible explosions, as would be the case if the heat exchanger was executed as a catalytic burner. This makes it possible to simplify the design and manufacturing of the heat exchanger. This leads to the further advantage that - due to the lower mass of the heat exchanger and the corresponding lower thermal capacity - the heat exchanger may possess much more rapid dynamic response characteristics.

[0014] An alternative solution to the above-described problem is provided by the features of claim 9.

[0015] In accordance with the invention, after streaming through the heat exchanger, the evaporated and/or superheated hydrocarbon or the hydrocarbon/water mixture is distributed to the respective components, in particular the stages of a reforming process, by means of a valve device.

[0016] This results in a very uncomplicated design with very short pipe lengths and minimum use of evaporator elements or heat exchanger elements, which is able to supply the desired volumes of the produced hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon/water steam to the respective components of the gas generation system. Again, the principal benefit arises from the comparatively simple and light-weight design, which in turn makes it possible—due to the very low heat capacity and a comparatively low weight—to rapidly heat the entire system to operating temperature, which results in an improved cold-start behavior.

[0017] Further practical configurations and further developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims and the following embodiment examples that are illustrated with the help of figures.

[0018]FIG. 1 shows a possible configuration of the invention's system to supply at least two components of a gas generation system, with one burner and two heat exchangers.

[0019]FIG. 2 shows a possible configuration of the invention's system to supply at least two components of a gas generation system, with two burners and two heat exchangers.

[0020]FIG. 3 shows an alternative configuration of the system to supply at least two components of a gas generation system, with one heat exchanger heated by catalytic combustion.

[0021]FIG. 4 shows an alternative configuration of the system to supply at least two components of a gas generation system, with one heat exchanger and one valve device.

[0022]FIG. 1 shows a possible configuration of the system to supply heated, evaporated, and/or superheated hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon/water mixture to at least two components 1, 2.

[0023] These two components 1, 2 may in particular be two stages of a multi-stage reforming process, for example a component 1 for partial oxidation and a component 2 for catalytic reforming. In all embodiment examples, a mixture of methanol (CH₃OH) and water (H₂O) is employed as the hydrocarbon or the hydrocarbon/water mixture.

[0024] According to the configuration of FIG. 1, the system comprises two heat exchangers 3, 4, each of which contains one area 3 a, 4 a on the media side and one thermal-energy input area 3 b, 4 b.

[0025] The schematic shows that the component 1 is supplied with the methanol/water steam through a heat exchanger 3 and a metering device 5. After the product has been reformed or partially reformed in the component 1, the product is conducted further and is further processed in a manner known in the art, which is indicated by the dotted arrow 6.

[0026] The equivalent is true for the component 2, which is being supplied with the required educts through the heat exchanger 4 and a further metering device 7, whereby the arrow 8 indicates a standard further path and use of the products.

[0027] We now focus on the generation and use of the thermal energy required for the evaporation and/or superheating of the methanol/water mixture in the system of FIG. 1. In a schematically drawn mixing device 9, the anode exhaust gas and the cathode exhaust gas of a fuel cell (not shown) of a fuel cell system (not shown in its entirety) are mixed.

[0028] The cathode exhaust gas of the fuel cell contains a comparatively high content of residual oxygen, so that this residual oxygen can be burned in a pre-heating burner 10 together with the residual amounts of hydrogen, methanol, and possibly carbon monoxide, which are contained in the anode gas. No feed equipment is necessary to supply the above-mentioned gases, since the gases originating from the anode and cathode areas of the fuel cell already are at a specific system-dependent pressure.

[0029] However, during the start-up phase of the fuel cell system, the fuel cell is not able to provide a sufficient quantity of exhaust gas, but since at this point in time the cathode area of the fuel cell is still charged with air, this nearly unused air reaches the mixing device 9 as “cathode exhaust gas”. During these operating states, the mixing device 9 may optionally be supplied with an additional fuel, preferably the hydrocarbon already present in the fuel cell system, i.e. methanol (CH₃OH). This optional supply of methanol into the mixing device 9 is of course also possible if—due to certain load conditions in the fuel cell system, e.g. at the start of a sudden load increase—the combustible residual substances present in the anode exhaust gas are temporarily not sufficient to generate the required thermal energy in the pre-heating burner 10.

[0030] The pre-heating burner 10 preferably is a simple thermal burner, which nearly completely burns the introduced gases or the introduced methanol.

[0031] This burner design, which is known in the art, makes it possible—by designing a burner nozzle and a combustion chamber that are appropriate for the respective fuel—to achieve a very high efficiency. The exhaust gases transfer the predominant portion of the thermal energy generated in this combustion.

[0032] In the system, the hot exhaust gases are used to heat the area 3 b of the heat exchanger 3 and the area 4 b of the heat exchanger 4. At least the heat exchanger 4 is operated in countercurrent, which makes it possible to lower the temperature of the exhaust gas to a very low level when it leaves the area 4 b of the heat exchanger 4, and consequently to utilize almost all of the thermal energy in the hot exhaust gas. This results in a very high system efficiency. At the same time, depending on the given requirements, the heat exchanger 3 may be operated in countercurrent, in concurrent flow, as shown in FIG. 1, and in principle—in a suitable configuration—even in cross flow. This results in a large number of options, which allow great flexibility in supplying the two components 1, 2 with the appropriate quantity of steam at an appropriate temperature level.

[0033] It is particularly practical to execute the heat exchanger 3 in a very lightweight design with low mass. The resulting lower thermal capacity of the heat exchanger 3 results in very rapid dynamic response characteristics of the heat exchanger 3, and in the event of a cold-start of the system or the fuel cell system, the heat exchanger 3 can be heated to the required temperature very rapidly.

[0034] Naturally, this also makes it possible to implement a dynamic steam supply that can be very different for the two components 1, 2. It would for example be practical to design the component 1 so that it is able to achieve a very high reforming output, in particular during a cold-start of the system, whereby the component 2—after the final system temperature has been reached—would process the main portion of methanol to be reformed. In combination with the corresponding heat exchangers 3, 5, the size and mass of which are matched to these conditions, it becomes possible to create a system to supply the at least two components 1, 2 of the gas generation system, which possesses good dynamic response characteristics in addition to excellent cold-starting properties.

[0035]FIG. 2 shows a comparable configuration, which—in addition to the pre-heating burner 10—contains an afterburner 11, which through a mixing device 12 is supplied with the exhaust gas of the burner 10, with additional anode exhaust gas, and possibly with additional fuel, i.e. methanol in this case.

[0036] The mode of operation of the system of FIG. 2 is almost the same as the mode of operation of the system according to FIG. 1. But with the additional afterburner 11, which is arranged in the exhaust gas flow between the first heat exchanger 3 and the second heat exchanger 4, it becomes possible to again heat the exhaust gas from the pre-heating burner 10 and the first heat exchanger 3 to a higher temperature level. This improves the flexibility of the system as well as the dynamic response characteristics of the second heat exchanger 4.

[0037] In addition, a design with two burners, in particular thermal burners, increases [incomplete sentence (The Translator)], but in principle one can also envision using a catalytic pre-heating burner and a purely thermal afterburner, or a comparable combination, [incomplete sentence (The Translator)] is very well utilized. The two burners 10, 11 make it possible to use virtually all of the combustible residual substances in the exhaust gases to generate the required thermal energy. In particular in combination with an operation in counterflow, as is realized at least in the heat exchanger 4, it becomes possible to utilize practically all of the chemical and thermal energy contained in the fuel cell exhaust gas, which increases the efficiency of the entire system.

[0038] In principle, the explanations provided for FIG. 1 also apply to the control as well as to the ratio of masses or thermal capacities of the respective heat exchangers 3, 4 for supplying the individual components 1, 2 of the gas generation system.

[0039]FIG. 3 shows a configuration that in principle is able to achieve the same result. But in this case one employs a heat exchanger 13, which is directly heated catalytically, and which—in its thermal-energy input area 13 b—contains a catalyst material 14, for example in the form of a coating, or a charge of material coated with catalyst material. Through a mixing device 15, a mixture of anode exhaust gas and cathode exhaust gas—to which fuel, i.e. methanol in this case, may be added—is supplied to this area 13 b of the heat exchanger 13. Catalytic combustion takes place in the area 13 b of the heat exchanger 13, whereby part of the generated heat is transferred directly to the media-side area 13 a of the heat exchanger 13, transferring the thermal energy to the to-be-evaporated methanol/water mixture, which circulates in this area and has been introduced by a metering device 16.

[0040] This methanol/water steam then reaches the component 1 of the gas generation system, from where it reaches in well-known fashion—in accordance with arrow 6—other optional components of the gas generation system or directly the fuel cell of the fuel cell system.

[0041] The hot exhaust gases of the catalytic combustion in the area 13 b of the heat exchanger 13 then reach a further heat exchanger 17, which is operated in countercurrent, and is similar in its basic mode of operation to the heat exchanger 4 of the previous embodiment examples. Here as well, the countercurrent operation of the heat exchanger 17 makes it possible to obtain a very low exhaust gas temperature.

[0042] In between the heat exchanger 13 and the heat exchanger 17 is shown a burner 18, which preferably is executed as a catalytic burner 18 or as a thermal burner 18, and which may be supplied with anode exhaust gas of the fuel cell and possibly with methanol through a mixing device 19. This burner 18 makes it possible to re-heat the comparatively cold exhaust gases of the catalytic combustion and to burn all remaining residual substances in the exhaust gas. In combination with the countercurrent operation of the heat exchanger 17, this further increases the overall efficiency of the system, and in addition reduces the pollutant emissions in the exhaust gas, since the comparatively high temperature that can be reached in the burner 18 oxidizes nearly all of the combustible residual substances in the exhaust gas.

[0043] In the heat exchanger 17, the methanol/water mixture that has been introduced by a metering device 20, is evaporated and reaches the component 2 of the gas generation system, from where it is conducted in the known fashion to further processing steps, in accordance with arrow 8.

[0044]FIG. 4 shows a further, less complicated configuration of the particular system. The system contains only one heat exchanger 21, which again is operated in counterflow and contains the two areas 21 a and 21 b. In a manner comparable to the preceding embodiment examples, the hot exhaust gas of a combustion taking place in a burner 22 is fed to the thermal-energy input area 21 b. Again, as fuel for the combustion one uses the anode exhaust gas and the cathode exhaust gas of the fuel cell, which have been combined in a mixing device 23, and possibly some added methanol.

[0045] The hot exhaust gases flowing through the thermal-energy input area 21 b of the heat exchanger 21 serve to evaporate a methanol/water mixture, which is supplied to the heat exchanger 21 by a metering device 24 and flows through the area 21 a on the media side. From the media-side area 21 a of the heat exchanger 21, the methanol/water steam reaches a valve device 25, which is indicated by two single control valves 25 a, 25 b. The valve device 25, which acts as a controllable proportional valve, distributes the methanol/water steam—in dependence on the system requirements, e.g. as a function of the current system temperature—through two pipe systems 26, 27 to the components 1, 2 of the gas generation system.

[0046] From there, the products reach—as schematically indicated in the preceding embodiment examples—other components of the fuel cell system, as indicated by the dotted arrows 6, 8. Possible choices for the valve device 25 are a three-way tap or two two-way valves.

[0047] The system's embodiment example of FIG. 4 no longer requires a second metering device and the system only needs one burner 22 and one heat exchanger 21. Thus, the system illustrated in FIG. 4 is an easy to realize variant with very low space requirements of the system to supply methanol/water steam to at least two components 1, 2 of the gas generation system of the fuel cell system.

[0048] All of the shown embodiment examples make it possible to rapidly supply the required quantity of methanol/water steam at the desired temperature level relatively independently to two components 1, 2 of the gas generation system, on the one hand by means of two separate metering devices 5, 7, 16, 20 and on the other hand by means of the metering device 24 and the valve device 25. This fact may be utilized by designing the component 1 so that it exhibits very good cold-starting behavior and immediately after the start-up of the fuel cell system is able to provide the largest portion of the reforming output to be provided, while the largest part of the reforming output will be provided by component 2 once the system has reached operating temperature.

[0049] But of course it is also possible to connect the components 1, 2 in series as a multi-stage process, whereby during a cold-start it should be possible to operate the system exclusively with the component 1.

[0050] The system temperature should be used as control variable for the distribution of the methanol/water steam volume flows, which are regulated by controlling the metering devices 5, 7, 16, 20 or the valve device 25. 

1. System to supply an evaporated and/or superheated hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon/water mixture to at least two components (1, 2) of a gas generation system of a fuel cell system, in particular the stages of a multi-stage reforming process, containing at least two heat exchangers (3, 4; 13, 17), each of which contains amedia-side area (3 a, 4 a; 13 a, 17 a) and an area (3 b, 4 b, 13 b, 17 b) for the input of thermal energy, and each of which is associated with at least one of the components (1, 2), whereby the thermal-energy input areas (3 b, 4 b; 13 b, 17 b) of the at least two heat exchangers (3, 4; 13, 17) are connected one after the other in the manner of a series connection.
 2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that a catalytic combustion of fuel cell exhaust gases and/or additional fuel takes place in the thermal-energy input area (13 b) of the first—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger (13), whereby the exhaust gases of the catalytic combustion flow through the thermal-energy input area (17 b) of the second—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger (17).
 3. System according to claim 1, characterized in that a pre-heating burner (10) is located upstream—with respect to the series connection—of the thermal-energy input area (3 b) of the first—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger (3), whereby exhaust gases of the combustion taking place in the pre-heating burner (10) flow through the thermal-energy input areas (3 b, 4 b) of the at least two heat exchangers (3, 4).
 4. System according to claim 3, characterized in that a nearly complete oxidation of the fuel and/or of the exhaust gases of the fuel cell takes place in the pre-heating burner (10).
 5. System according to claim 3, characterized in that a catalytic combustion of the fuel and/or of the exhaust gases of the fuel cell takes place in the pre-heating burner (10).
 6. System according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that an afterburner (11, 18), in which fuel cell exhaust gases and/or additional fuel are combusted, is located between the thermal-energy input area (3 b, 13 b) of the first—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger (3, 13) and the thermal-energy input area (4 b, 17 b) of the second—with respect to the series connection—heat exchanger (4, 17).
 7. System according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that one of the at least two heat exchangers (3, 13) possesses a significantly lower mass than the at least one other heat exchanger (4, 17).
 8. System according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that each of the heat exchangers (3, 4, 13, 17) possesses at least one metering device (5, 7; 16, 20), which is controllable with respect to the metered quantity of hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon/water mixture.
 9. System to supply an evaporated and/or superheated hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon/water mixture to at least two components (1, 2) of a gas generation system of a fuel cell system, in particular the stages of a multi-stage reforming process, comprising at least one heat exchanger (21), which contains a media-side area (21 a) and an area (21 b) for the input of thermal energy, and at least one valve device 25, which distributes the evaporated and/or superheated volume flow of the hydrocarbon or the hydrocarbon/water mixture to at least two pipe elements (26, 27), each of which leads to one of the at least two components (1, 2).
 10. System according to claim 9, characterized in that a burner 22 is located upstream of the thermal-energy input area (21 b) of the heat exchanger (21), whereby exhaust gases of the combustion taking place in the burner (22) flow through the thermal-energy input area (21 b) of the at least one heat exchanger (21).
 11. System according to claim 10, characterized in that a nearly complete oxidation of the fuel and/or of the fuel cell exhaust gases takes place in the burner (22).
 12. System according to claim 10, characterized in that a catalytic combustion of the fuel and/or of the exhaust gases of the fuel cell takes place in the burner (22).
 13. System according to one of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that the valve device (25) contains at least one proportional valve, one three-way tap, or two two-way valves.
 14. System according to claim 8 or 13 characterized in that the valve device (25) or the metering devices (5, 7, 16, 20) distribute the volume flows of the hydrocarbon or the hydrocarbon/water mixture in dependence on the temperature of the at least two components (1, 2).
 15. System according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that at least the final—with respect to the flow direction of the exhaust gases of the combustion—heat exchangers (4, 17, 21) are operated in countercurrent.
 16. System according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that methanol is used as the hydrocarbon.
 17. System according to one of claims 2 to 16, characterized in that methanol is used as the fuel. 